Conventional circuit breakers are normally placed in an operative position in banks of side-by-side units with only an outwardly exposed front face and operating handle readily accessible and visually observable. The operating handle has two extreme positions, one when the circuit breaker is in circuit completing position and the other when in a circuit interrupting position. When an overload condition occurs, the circuit breaker "blows" indicating that the load circuit is interrupted by a circuit overload responsive element. This element simultaneously causes the operating handle to move to an intermediate position. When a number of such circuit breakers are in a group as they conventionally are, it is difficult to visually observe which circuit breaker has its handle in a "blown" position. This is particularly true due to most circuit breakers being located in normally out of the way locations which are frequently dark. Accordingly, it is frequently difficult to visually determine when an overload condition exists and when the circuit breaker is in its circuit interrupting position. Naturally, this is important in order to find the cause of the overload and correct such condition before resetting the circuit breaker. In order to overcome the problems as set forth above, my previously issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,816 is directed to a circuit breaker assembly including a light emitting diode, hereinafter designated as LED located in the same casing and viewable from an exposed face of the casing in which the circuitry of the subject circuit breaker assembly is mounted. The LED is located immediately adjacent the operating handle and is activated or illuminated and stays in such illuminated condition as long as the operating handle remains in a blown position. The indication of an interrupted circuit is therefore very easy to determine.
However, one problem recognized with the above set forth structure is that the activation or illumination of the LED is totally dependent on the presence of a load in the circuit. In the disclosure set forth in the above-noted patent, the LED circuit is in series with the connected load and this load has to be present in order to provide the ground return for engaging the LED. It is possible in some instances that certain appliances connected to a circuit breaker assembly including an LED of the type set forth above, have an internal protective circuitry or device that disconnects it from the line thereby removing the load from the LED circuit. In such instances, the LED will not be capable of indicating an overload condition.